Yoga is a practice that connects the body, breath, and mind. It uses physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditation to improve overall health.
Benefits of Yoga
- Yoga improves strength, balance and flexibility
- Yoga helps with back pain relief
- Yoga can ease arthritis symptoms.
- Yoga benefits heart health
- Yoga relaxes you, to help you sleep better
- Yoga can mean more energy and brighter moods
- Yoga helps you manage stress
Styles of Yoga
There are many different types or styles of yoga. They range from mild to intense. Some of the more popular styles of yoga are:
- Ashtanga or power yoga. This type of yoga offers a more demanding workout. In these classes, you quickly move from one posture to another.
- Bikram or hot yoga. You do a series of 26 poses in a room heated to 95°F to 100°F (35°C to 37.8°C). The goal is to warm and stretch the muscles, ligaments, and tendons, and to purify the body through sweat.
- Hatha yoga. This is sometimes a general term for yoga. It most often includes both breathing exercises and postures.
- Integral. A gentle type of yoga that may include breathing exercises, chanting, and meditation.
- Iyengar. A style that pays great attention to the precise alignment of the body. You may also hold poses for long periods of time.
- Kundalini. Emphasizes the effects of breath on the postures. The goal is to free energy in the lower body so it can move upward.
- Viniyoga. This style adapts postures to each person’s needs and abilities, and coordinates breath and postures.
I encourage you to find a modality that works best for you—practice for 5 minutes or 2 hours at a time! Yoga is a practice we continue to work on-there is no right or wrong and you do not get “better at yoga”. Yoga offers a non judgmental environment. I encourage you to open your heart and mind to this moving meditation practice.